Prep volleyball: Community School swept by tough Berkeley Prep again in 5A regional

TAMPA – The Community School of Naples volleyball team fell to Tampa-Berkeley Prep in the Class 5A regional quarterfinals for the second straight year.

The Buccaneers won Wednesday in three sets (25-14, 25-19, 25-21).

“They are obviously a very good team with 10 seniors. What can you do? That’s veterans,” Community school second-year coach Alicia MacIntyre said. “They play that way. We have to use this offseason to get better defensively and with discipline. That’s how you win.”

The Seahawks (15-6) were making their fifth consecutive regional appearance and ninth in school history. They arrived late and the match started at 7:30 p.m. after an accident on I-75 delayed them.

In the first set, the Buccaneers (26-2) overwhelmed the visitors, leading the entire way while recording the final six points to win.

Community School showed life in the second set with three lead changes (7-6, 8-7 and 11-10). But once again the senior duo of Amanda Phegley, a Penn State commit, and Isabella Samson proved to be too much.

Berkeley Prep came out firing in the third and final set with a commanding 6-0 lead. However, the Seahawks woke up, leading on three different occasions (17-16, 19-18 and 21-20). The Buccaneers sealed the match victory with four straight points.

MacIntyre says her group looked tired in the first set but she doesn’t want to make excuses for the trip up north.

“We have to get better from the very beginning, but I don’t want to take any credit away from that team because that’s a good team, a state-contending team,” she said. “I’m proud of my team. We had one senior and she’s a big loss for us. We go now and get ready for next year.”

The senior MacIntyre is referring to is defensive specialist Olivia Ramirez.

The Seahawks fell to Berkeley Prep by the same score in the exact round a year ago.

The win places Berkeley Prep in the region semifinal where it will face Bishop Verot for the third year in a row. The Vikings beat Berkeley Prep 3-0 last season while the Buccaneers bested them 3-2 in 2015. This marked Berkeley Prep’s 22nd straight regional appearance and the program owns 15 state titles, the second most in state history.

“We kind of have a little bit of a sour taste in our mouth with what happened last year,” Berkeley Prep coach Mackenzie Dagostino said. “We were a very gifted team last year, we kind of went in there and played passively. Our 10 seniors have had that loss on their minds all year.

"We wanted to get back to playing Verot because we know we are a better team. We know that we have more effort and more want to win the game this year than last year. Obviously, our goal is states but we have to go through Verot to get there.”

Phegley led the Buccaneers with 11 kills while Samson pitched in with 10. Freshman Natalie Bono started with Jenna Hampton, a senior Penn State commit, resting. Bono generated seven kills and 13 digs.

For Community School, MacIntyre pointed out junior middle hitter Laura Zuloaga and sophomore outside hitter Brielle Bellamy as two offensive leaders while freshman libero Cecilia Nakfoor was noted as a defensive leader.

The Seahawks have a group of five eighth-graders who can continue to build something special under MacIntyre.

“I’m excited for the future. As a new coach that’s what you are excited for, those young ones,” MacIntyre said. “This will be our third year with the upcoming seniors and we have those five eighth-graders that want to work starting next week if they could. So now we look to that future and go and get back in the gym as soon as we can.”